Iraq violence claims 29

2005-05-06 22:16

Baghdad - A car bomb ripped through a busy market south of Baghdad and another smashed into a minibbus packed with policemen north of the capital on Thursday, killing a total of 29 people and wounding more than 40.

The latest bloodletting came as Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari attempted to put the final touches to his cabinet line-up, three months after general elections and more than a week after unveiling a partial government list.

"A car bomb with a suicide driver exploded at about 15:00 in the Mokhadar market, in the centre of Suwayrah, killing 17 and wounding 40," police Captain Namir Ali told AFP.

The blast blew market stalls to pieces, as panic reined amid the carnage and medics tried to treat the most urgent cases next to the mangled wreckage of several vehicles.

The city lies in a lawless area where Sunni Arab militant groups have carried out scores of attacks against security forces and imposed their authority on civilian residents.

Some 60 bodies were fished out of the Tigris River near Suwayrah last month. President Jalal Talabani said they were those of Shiites sized in a mass hostage-taking by Sunni militants in the nearby town of Madain.

Earlier on Friday, a suicide bomber rammed his car into a minibus carrying policemen near ousted dictator Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, killing eight policemen and four civilians, including a child, a medic told AFP.

More than 300 people have already died this month in at least 30 car bombings and other attacks by Sunni insurgents.

Fourteen bodies

Iraqi police said they found 14 bodies, blindfolded and hands bound, executed with a bullet to the back of the head, in northeastern Baghdad.

Residents had told them that a bulldozer was being used to bury bodies in a vacant lot in the Kisra wa Atash district.

"When police arrived on the scene, the driver of the bulldozer ran away. We found two bodies on the spot and 12 more when we dug up the area," an interior ministry official said.

The official said that the neighbourhood lies on the edge of Sadr City, the impoverished two-million-strong base of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, controlled by his Mehdi Army militia.

The incidents in Suwayrah and near Sadr City fueled fears of sectarian violence between the ousted Sunni elite and Iraq's newly empowered Shiite majority.

In the Shiite heartland, five people were wounded when clashes broke out between police and worshippers leaving prayers in the central shrine town of Kufa after a fiery sermon by Sadr.

"If you leave us in peace, we will leave you in peace. You should be aware of the fact that the Mehdi Army is still alive and has its finger on the trigger," said the sermon read by another cleric, in reference to Sadr's militia.

- AFP